New Protection For Sellers

Buyer to seller communication before opening a case

eBay always encourages buyers to contact the seller to resolve any issue with their purchase before filing an eBay Buyer Protection case. Now cases filed when the buyer does not attempt to contact you first will not be included in the count of opened cases used for evaluating your performance.

Highlights

Starting August 31, this change will apply to all eligible eBay Buyer Protection cases for transactions on eBay.com, for US & Canadian registered sellers. Cases opened prior to this date will not be affected. Cases opened on PayPal will still follow the current PayPal Buyer Protection guidelines and the policy is not being changed as part of this update.

As always, any case that is escalated and found in your favor will not affect your performance rating.

Best Practices

Follow these best practices to avoid having eBay Buyer Protection cases in the first place and to make sure you’re protected if one is opened:

Review the message you send to your buyers in your listings and post-sale communications to reinforce your commitment to great service and ensure your buyers feel comfortable contacting you if they have an issue.

Ship with a carrier that offers package tracking and always upload the tracking information to eBay, ideally within 24 hours of the buyer making payment. The majority of buyer issues are related to shipping, and uploading tracking information puts the answers at their fingertips. Estimated delivery information based on tracking you uploaded can prevent an item not received case from being filed.

Print shipping labels on eBaytracking information is uploaded automatically, and your buyer automatically receives an email that their package has shipped.

Check your Seller Dashboard and email from eBay regularly so you’ll know right away when a case is opened and respond immediately. Provide as much detail as possible in your first response as this information will be referenced if the case is escalated.

Report to eBay if you suspect a buyer is taking advantage of the return policy. Use the seller reporting hub to report an unpaid item, Feedback extortion, or any other problem with a buyer. eBay investigates all reports and will remove any negative or neutral Feedback that's in violation of eBay policy.

And of course, follow all best practices for providing great service and keep your customers happy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Starting August 31, for sellers who have a Standard, Above Standard, or eBay Top-rated rating, if a buyer doesn’t contact the seller before opening an eBay Buyer Protection case AND the seller resolves the issue promptly (the case closes prior to escalation or timing out), the case will be removed from the seller’s count of opened cases—one of the factors used to establish seller performance rating.

This update will make the resolution process fairer for sellers. Although eBay directs buyers to contact the seller as the first step in the process, buyers sometimes bypass this direction and the seller may not know there is a problem with a transaction until the eBay Buyer Protection case is filed. This change will ensure a seller’s performance standing isn’t affected as a direct result.

Starting August 31, this change will apply to all eligible eBay Buyer Protection cases for transactions on eBay.com. Cases opened prior to this date will not be affected. Cases opened on PayPal will still follow the current PayPal Buyer Protection guidelines and the policy is not being changed as part of this update.

A case will not affect your seller standard rating if all of the following conditions are met:

You have a Standard, Above Standard or eBay Top-rated seller rating

The case closes prior to escalation or timing out

The buyer didn’t contact you through member-to-member communication at least 2 business days before opening the case

As always, any case that is escalated and found in your favor won’t be counted against you. You can find out if an open case was removed from your seller standing by reviewing your closed case details.

It is important to communicate with your buyer using My Messages. If a case is escalated to eBay Customer Support, it will be reviewed to determine what actions were taken by the buyer and seller to resolve the issue. If the buyer is in good standing and the case meets the requirements of the eBay Buyer Protection policy, the Resolution Center will review additional transaction information to determine if the case is ready for resolution. This may include a review of messages sent between the buyer and seller through My Messages.